17 Spooky Books For Tweens, From Ghost Stories To Creepy Encounters

This was easily one of my favorite books as a kid, and it was delightfully creepy in all the best ways. The Dollhouse Murders was written in the 1970s, but it still holds up for readers today, and the story of a girl whose family has a dark secret — a secret the dollhouse and its moving dolls are trying to help her unravel — still gives me chills.

Just pick any Goosebumps book and it’s sure to give your ghoul-loving tween the perfect spooky story. If you haven’t read one of these in a while, you’ll be excited to know they are just as suspenseful as you remember — and often end in a bit of an oh-it’s-still-not-over situation. (Just like the creepiest books and movies do.) Personal favorites (and ones my tween has loved): Night of the Living Dummy, The Haunted Mask, and It Came from Beneath the Sink.

When 12-year-old Paris moves to a new town, she not only has to navigate all the sticky situations that come with being a new kid in a new school (and the normal tween stuff), but she also has a ghostly mystery in her new home to solve. The Dare: Friends, Family, and Other Eerie Mysteries is one of those perfect books that represents so well what it feels like to be 12 years old — but with an added element of spookiness.

Coraline is a classic for a reason: It’s just spooky enough, and even I get a little freaked out by Other Mother. The book now comes in a graphic novel form as well, so however your kiddo wants to read about a little girl who thinks her life is a little too ordinary — until it suddenly gets a little too scary — is worth it.

With seven books already in the collection, The Haunted Chronicles is sure to keep your creepy-loving kid satisfied. These horror novelettes are short, but full of suspense and just the right amount of terror. Your little reader will gobble these up, and honestly? Ghosts in the Hallway is a pretty creepy read for adults, too. You can read any of the seven books in he collection in any order, and they’re perfect for reading out loud.

Roald Dahl is a huge pillar of children’s literature, and his spooky Book of Ghost Stories is pretty unbelievable. This anthology of creepy stories comes from Dahl reading supernatural tales at the British Museum Library, and the 14 he selected will stay with your kid forever.

Every ‘90s kid remembers Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, and it’s time you gifted your spooky tween this collection. Some of these are super gross and creepy — I will forever and always think about the story of the person who thinks they’re adopting a weird dog from Mexico (it is not a dog, but I won’t spoil it for you), and the girl who has a weird bump on her face that ends up being an egg sac. You’re welcome for the nightmares… and so is your kid.

Nobody does a ghost story like Mary Downing Hahn, and The Girl in the Locked Room might be one of her best. When a young girl moves into an abandoned house, she discovers a ghost who’s been locked in an upstairs room — for over a century. This tale of friendship is spooky and a little heartbreaking, and is honestly a great one to read with your tween.

My daughter was in the fourth grade when her teacher read The Girl in the Lake out loud to their class, and then she immediately wanted to reread it with me. It’s a pretty spooky one about a young Black girl visiting her grandparents for the summer at their lakehouse and includes family secrets, civil rights, and a whole lot of courage.

I read Totally Haunted Kids: True Ghost Stories when I was about 10 years old, and to this day, I still think about a few of these stories. They were written as if they were told to the author by the kids who actually experienced them, and that level of spookiness really sets them off. Specifically, there were two stories that gave me the absolute creeps: one about a funeral home and another about a haunted backyard playhouse. This book is pretty much only available via resellers, but it’s 100% worth it.

I actually read A Curious Tale of the In-Between when I was an adult and loved it so much — but it’s meant for tweens, and they’ll love it, too.

I mean, any story involving “peculiar” children is bound to be a little creepy, but Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children sets up a whole spooky, heartbreaking universe for your kids to dive into. This is the first of six books in the series, and it starts the tale of an abandoned orphanage on a mysterious island — and all of its peculiar inhabitants and their stories. Chills.

This brand-new, spooky novel features 13-year-old twins who also happen to be Connecticut’s youngest paranormal investigators. I know, you’re already sucked in. But The Many Hauntings of the Manning Family also touches on family legacy — the twins inherited their “gift” from their ghost-hunting grandparents — and all the emotions that get wrapped up in trying to be who you truly are.

Fuzzy Mud is short, but oh man, does it pack a punch. While it’s missing ghosts and “hauntings,” the book is incredibly creepy and might even give you a little PTSD of the year 2020 and all the health turmoil happening in the world at that time. This was my 10-year-old’s favorite book this past year, and she even checked it out of the library twice so I would have time to read it. (I gobbled it up in one night.)

Mary Downing Hahn is back on this list with Wait Till Helen Comes, a spine-tingling ghost story that has been creeping kids out since the ‘80s. It’s the perfect kind of vintage ghost story, with a battle between siblings and stepsiblings playing out among the creepy encounters, and your kids will find the characters extremely relatable.

Another one by India Hill Brown, my tween told me I simply had to include The Forgotten Girl. When a young girl discovers a crumbling headstone of another girl under the snow, strange things start happening to her, from vivid dreams to a feeling of being pulled back to the graveyard. As she researches, she discovers the grave is part of a forgotten Black cemetery — from when things were once segregated — and learns a whole lot more about the past than she bargained for.

And for your tweens who like spooky, but don’t necessarily want a story that will imprint on their brain forever, try The Baby-Sitters Club: Claudia and the Phantom Phone Calls. It’s just the right mixture of spooky, with a whole lot of courage and bravery mixed in. Plus, who doesn’t love a Claudia Kishi story?